Station-indicator.



H. S. HALTON STATION INDICATOR.

APPLICATION man AUG.2I. 1914.

Patented Mar. 27, 1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

7/ 1 m 9 I Q .0 5 0 .7/m\ 2. m E L Il /llrl/lrIr/l/l 0 H. S. HALTON.

STATION INDICATOR.

APPLICATION FILED Aue.2|. 19:4.

Patented Mar. 27, 1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

3 WM 7 w X V\O M o Z Z W J a Z 3 f 2 a fl H E n. o a a o o H7 fi a a w wv fl m m w 1 V v HAROLD S. HALTON, OF RIDGEWAY, ONTARIO, CANADA.

STATION-INDICATOR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 2'7, 1917.

Application filed August 21, 1914. Serial No. 857,977.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, l-IAnoLn S. HALTON, a. subject of the King ofEngland, residing at Ridgeway, in the Province of Ontario, Dominion ofCanada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Station-Indioators; and I do'hereby declare the fol lowing to be a full, clear,and exact description of the invention, such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to a station indicator.

An object of the invention is to provide an attachment for a car bymeans of which the station or streets may be indicated as the carapproaches.

A further object of the invention is to provide mechanism under controlof the motorman of the car for actuating the device.

A still further object of the invention is to provide means forautomatically stopping the indicating card in such position as to bevisible from within the car.

A still further object is to provide automatic means for rendering thedevice inoperative.

With these and other objects in view, such as will appear as thedescription progresses, my invention comprises the combination andarrangement of parts as herein set forth and subsequently claimed.

Referring to the drawing:

Figure 1 is a partial view of the inside of a car, showing theindicating device in place.

Fig. 2 is a section on line 22 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a section taken at right angles to Fig. 2. I

Fig. 4 is a detail of the mechanism for alining the indicating cards.

Fig. 5 is a plan View thereof.

Fig. 6'is a detail showing the means forcontrolling the driving clutch.

Fig. 7 is a diagrammatic view, showing the electrical circuits.

Fig. 8 is a detail of the indicating card latch.

Referring to the drawing by reference characters wherein like parts areindicated by like characters throughout the several views My devicecomprises a rectangular casing 1 divided into two compartments 2 and 3.

The front of the casing is closed by a cover 4 in which is formed a slot5 closed by a magnifying glass 6 and in the lower portion of this cover4 is a hinged door 7, by means of which access may be had to the casing.

Adjacent the lower end of the casing in compartment 2 is a transverselyextending hexagonal roller 8 loosely mounted on a shaft 9, one end ofwhich is rotatably mounted in the side wall of the casing 1 and extendstl'irough the dividing wall 10. On the extending end of this shaft inthe compartment 3 is loosely mounted a sprocket wheel 11 having fixedthereto a clutch member 12. The end of this projected end is mounted ina bearing 13. A beveled gear 14 is secured to the extended end of theshaft 9 and meshes with a beveled gear on a motor 16.

Slidably mounted on the said end of the shaft 9 between the firstmentioned clutch member and the gear 14, but prevented from rotation bya key 17 is aclutch member 18 which is operatively connected to anarmature 19 of a relay 20, by means of which armature the said clutch isthrown into operative position.

A chain 21 is mounted on the wheel 11 and extends over a wheel 22 on ashaft 23, which is mounted in the walls of the casing and extendsparallel to the roller 8.

A pair of rollers 24 and 25 are mounted rotatably in the upper portionof the compartment 2 and in spaced relation. These rollers are ofsimilar formation to the roller 8 and have secured thereto gear wheels26 which mesh with a gearwheel 27 on the shaft 23 in the compartment 2.

A pair of endless belts 28 pass around the roller 8 up over the roller24 and thence downwardly under an additional roller 29 and againupwardly over the roller 25 and downwardly to the roller 8. Each ofthese belts is adjacent one end of the rollers and has a plurality ofspaced clips 30 secured to the outer face thereof. These clips arearranged to grip a series of indicating cards 31 so that when therollers are rotated the belts will be rotated therewith and theindicating cards brought one after another into registration with theslot 5 in the casin 1.

Fach of these cards 31 has a name of a station or street marked thereonand any additional information that it is desirable to impart to thepassengers in the car.

The operation of the device is as folilows 2- The motor by virtue of theengagement of the gear wheels 14 and 15 rotates the shaft 9 and with itthe clutch member 18 so that when this clutch operates the motor isthrown into engagement with the clutch member 12, the wheel 11 isrotated and the chain 21 rotates the sprocket wheel 22 on the shaft 23.By virtue of the engagement be tween the gear 27 and the adjacent gears26' on the rollers 24L and 25, the said rollers are rotated. This causesthe endless belts carrying the indicating cards 31 to be driven aroundthe rollers 8, 2 1-, 25 and 29 so that the said indicating cards pass infront of the glass covered slot 5.

In order that said cards may bestopped in alincment with the slot 5 andin order that they may be moved one after another into such position, Ihave provided the following mechanism:

On the outside of the chain 21 in alinement with each of the cards 31 isan angu- V lar metallic projection 32 having insulating material 33 onthe under face thereof. L0- cated in the compartment 3 adjacent theupper end thereof is a relay 34: and to the armature 35 of this relay ispivotally secured a latch member 36, the movement of which member islimited by a pair of ears 37, a contact 38 insulated from the latch 36is secured to the lower side thereof.

The relays 20 and 34 are placed in a circuit as follows The currentpasses over a source of supply 39 and through the relay 20 thence to themotor 16 and thence to the relay 34 and from this relay to a switch 10within the reach of the motorman, the current is then applied by a wireleading from the switch 10 back to the source of supply 39.

When the switch 40 is closed the relay 20 is energized and the electricmagnet 41 thereof causes the armature 19 to be drawn toward the same, bywhich movement the clutch member 18 is thrown into engagement with theclutch member 12 and thus the operating shaft 23 is rotated, since themotor 16 being in the circuit rotates the shaft 9 to which theaforementioned shaft is connected by the chain 21. Simultaneously withthe movement of the armature 19 the armature is drawn inwardly towardthe magnets 12 so that the latch 36 is swung beneath the adjacent member32 and in contact with the insulation on the under face thereof. As themovement of the chain 21 continues the next lower projection 32 movesupwardly and engages with the contact 38, which through a connection 43joins the main circuit, at 14, between the source of supply and themotor 16. This contacting relation between the projection 32 and thelatch 36 short circuits the motor 16 and relay 20 so as to cut the sameout and stop the positive propelling of the chain 21, this chaincontinues in its upward movement by virtue of its momentum for a shortdistance and this movement is allowed by virtue of the pivotalconnection between the latch 36 and the armature 35 but stopped when thelatch 36 engages the uppermost ear 37 after the momentum of the chainhas been partially spent then as soon as the motorman throws out theswitch 10 the relay 34: is deenergized. 'When the relay 20 isde'einergized the armature 19 of the relay 20 is moved about its pivotby a spring lt so as to disengage the clutch members 18 and 12. Thedeenergizing of the relay 3a releases the armature 35, the spring 15-moves the same about its pivot so as to move the latch 36 bodily out ofthe line of movement of the members at which time the said latch 36drops down about its pivot and in such relation to the adjacentprojections 36 that. when it is again thrown into the line of movementof the said projectionsit will be beneath the adjacent projection andcontact with the insulation thereon. The device is then again readyto'be operat'edto indicate the next street.

It may be seen that to operate the device to indicate a street orstation it is only necessary that the motorman press a button, whichwill cause the mechanism to be actuated so that the name of the streetor sta-' tion will be shown beneath the glass 6 in the slot 5, and whenthe button is released the device will again be in operative position sothat the subsequent'opera tion of the button or switch 10 will cause thedevice to be actuated to indicate the next street. 7 a

From the foregoing description it may be seen that I have provided adevice for indicating the name of a street or station which the car isapproaching, and I have still further provided means within the controlof the motorman for actuating the device,

and I have still further included in the de vice an electrical circuitsuch that when the controlling member within the reach of 119 themotorman is operated the name of the 7 street will be automaticallyshifted so as to be visible from the car casing.

\Vhile I have described a particular device it is obvious that numerouschanges may be made within the structural details thereof withoutdestroying the operation thereof and within the scope of the inventionas defined by the claim.

lVhat is claimed is In a station. indicating device, the combinationwith a casing, of a pair of spaced rollers mounted therein, an endlesschain of indicating cards passing over said rollers, sprocketsoperatively connected to said rollers and having an endless chainpassing thereover, a plurality of projections'onsaid chain, a motoroperatively connected to one of said rollers, an electric circuit inwhich the said motor is included, an electro-mag net having a pivotedarmature, a latch member pivoted to said armature, a second circuit inwhich the said latch member and the projections on the chain areincluded, the said circuit being connected to the first mentionedcircuit whereby When one of the sprockets on the chain engages the latchmember the motor Will be short circuited and stopped and the latchmember Will be 10 moved upwardly by the momentum of the chain, and meansfor engaging the said latch member to limit the upward movement thereof.

In testimony whereof, I affix my signature, in the presence of tWoWitnesses.

HAROLD S. HALTON.

Witnesses:

HARRY Box, JEssE D. WINGER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Eatcnts, Washington, D. C.

